


Novel Idea

by radkoko



Series: KakaIru Week 2019 [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Novelist, Romance Novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-12 04:10:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20558012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radkoko/pseuds/radkoko
Summary: Iruka finds a romance novel that hits a little too close to home. He's not sure whether it's coincidence or if someone's been watching his life to make this story.





	Novel Idea

**Author's Note:**

> Day Two: Books

Iruka browsed the covers of the novels on the new table as he waited for Naruto to run through the store grabbing his senior year reading books for English class. They both wanted Naruto to graduate high school, and that meant starting early on the reading for the year.

He had far too many books at home, and Iruka knew he was going to be spending far too much on Naruto today, so when he picked up the unassuming romance novel, he wasn’t looking for anything -or expecting much- more than a distraction while Naruto searched.

It wasn’t until halfway through the first chapter that something felt off about this book. Iruka felt like he’d read this before because he was getting a strong sense of deja vu. He’d just have to blame it on the stereotypical protagonist, as most romance novels went she fit the mold, brown hair, brown eyes, the ‘not quite skinny, but not fat’ body shape, and… a scar? Okay, well that one wasn’t usually on the list.

Iruka heard Naruto call out for him, but suddenly he couldn’t take his eyes off this book. The scar she described was so strikingly similar to his, and her name… Ruika… it was all so close to him that it just didn’t seem possible. He skimmed through this coffee shop love story, picking up pieces that felt so much like memories instead of a new book.

Completely engrossed in the book, Iruka jumped when a hand clapped him on the arm and tore his eyes away from the pages.

“You okay Iruka?” Naruto asked. He looked at Iruka with his big blue eyes full of concern and a basket full of books at his side.

“I’m fine,” Iruka waved off Naruto’s concern, “You get everything on the list?” He questioned the teenager who was notorious for forgetting things.

“Yes,” Naruto grumbled, Iruka stared him down looking to get a better answer, “I went through the list twice, I swear.”

“Ok,” Iruka took him at his word, “Let’s pay and get out of here. I was thinking we could pick up ramen on the way home.” Iruka offered up the treat as a reward for a successful ‘mission’, one Naruto would never say no to.

Iruka turned to put the book down, but his curiosity got the better of him, so instead he dropped it in the basket as he took it from Naruto on his way to the register.

* * *

Iruka was a fast reader, but that wasn’t the only reason he finished the book before he went to bed that night. The book was -he’ll admit it- good, but it was the fact that it was so eerily similar to his life that stopped Iruka from putting the book down.

The girl, Ruika, was shown as practically living in the coffee shop. She had a standard table that she spread out her important paperwork on, and stayed there for hours on end. Iruka felt his life was subpar compared to hers, where his paperwork was just his student’s homework that needed to be graded. He did however have a table that he had claimed, just short of writing his name in it, for those afternoons that he sat down to get some work done while waiting for Naruto to finish soccer practice.

After seeing a standard day go by the author introduced the love interest in a scene that hit a little too close to home.

Ruika, being the self described clutz she was, proved her nature by tripping and dropping her coffee all over a man sitting at the table next to hers. Iruka remembered this being a particularly embarrassing event that happened to him about six months ago. His phone started ringing, and he rushed to pick it up in case Naruto was calling about something happening at practice. It ended up being an annoying telemarketer instead, but it was enough of a distraction that Iruka tripped over a chair that had been pulled out from a table and his coffee went flying.

He’d been lucky enough to only spill it on the floor, but Ruika’s had gone over the cute guy at the table and launched them into their great romantic love story. Iruka had tried to make conversation with the guy at that table and was left sitting in silence as the whole of the coffee shop stared at his misfortune.

If it had been just that moment Iruka might have forgiven the book for being a bit cliche, but it kept going. The time he’d offered up his table to the elderly couple. Or the time he’d gone to pick up all his papers and dropped them on the floor. Even the time that he’d gone running out of the shop, only to run back in for all the paper’s he’d forgotten to pick up before leaving.

The story even had his exact coffee order, mocha with hazelnut syrup, and the way he’d finish it off with a little extra cream from the bar.

It was all too much to be pure coincidence.

Iruka had to know who wrote this, and his best lead was the coffee shop. He’d have to start observing everyone else to see who had been watching him.

* * *

Iruka picked up his drink from the barista and sat down at his usual table. It was fortunately, or unfortunately, in the center of the cafe. So while it meant he had the best view of almost everyone, almost anyone could have been watching him. It wouldn’t help him narrow down his search for the author by seating choice.

He started looking for other clues. Sukea Chidori. That was the name printed on the cover of the book. The name sounded female, which fit Iruka’s expectation for a romance author, so that’s where he’d start. He took a mental note of all the women in the shop...

A college student, furiously working through her stack of textbooks.  
An older woman reading a book, maybe doing what he was, waiting for after school activities to finish.  
A gaggle of teen girls, each showing their phones to each other and gossiping about something.  
And last the barista, completely overwhelmed with the line of anxious customers wanting to get their order and leave.

Well, that didn’t help one bit. None of them seemed to fit the profile, not to mention they were all too engrossed in their own world to be noticing anything that was going on around them.

Maybe he’d just have to look at different days, who knows what kind of schedule the author kept. Iruka wasn’t about to change his routine because of a book, so he was sure to have plenty of time to keep looking for the author.

* * *

Days passed, and Iruka felt no closer to finding the mysterious author. He was getting more desperate by the day, but just couldn’t picture any of these women as the author. Even more evidence was that none of them were here day in and day out like he was. The rare few, like the college girl had a schedule, but they managed to be the few that he could rule out completely.

Frustrated with his thoughts Iruka pulled out the hair tie holding back his mess of hair. A habit of his, often fiddling with it when he got anxious.

“Hmmm,” Iruka stopped himself.

That was something he hadn’t thought about. Why did the author make his character female? Sure with his hair down he could look a little feminine, but it didn’t add up. Authors often put a bit of themselves in their protagonists, and if it was a female author then wouldn’t they be the leading woman, and leave Iruka to be the man?

No, he’d been thinking about this all wrong. The author was never female, they had to be male, and they must be something like the male lead.

Iruka whipped out the book from his bag and started reading through the sections with the love interest. Loner, always on his computer, light hair, lithe body…

There.

Iruka found his match in an instant once he was looking on the right path. He knew this guy… that was when he remembered. This guy was the man he’d tried to talk to after spilling his coffee. The exact moment that the whole book had been based around.

With an idea in mind, Iruka packed up all of his stuff, leaving out the book, and walked over to the guy.

He dropped the book down next to the guy’s computer with a thud, and sat down at the table without an invitation. The noise had called a little attention from the cafe’s patrons, but he was only focused on the author who was watching him with wide eyes.

“Mind if I get an autograph?” Iruka asked, wondering if the words sounded as menacingly sweet to the other man. He knew it was accusatory, but Iruka was certain he’d solved the mystery and was desperate to understand.

“Why would you want that?” the man asked trying to keep a fake calm that was, unfortunately for him, not very successful.

Iruka evaluated him. Silvery grey hair standing up in all directions, and ghostly grey eyes that pulled him in. His turtleneck was pulled up to cover his chin and his fingers worried the edges as if it was a bad habit like biting one’s fingernails. How he was able to wear such a thing when it was so hot outside was a completely separate question.

“You wrote this, didn’t you?” It was less of a question and more of a confirmation. The man froze in place, staring somewhere between his computer and the novel at its side.

“Why did you do this?” Iruka questioned, wanting his answers, but that man continued to stay silent. “Sukea?”

“Kakashi,” he finally spoke up.

“Huh?” Iruka started to question whether he’d gotten the wrong person.

“Sukea is a pen name. My name is Kakashi.”

“Ok, but why this?” Iruka pointed at the book.

“I…” Kakashi started to talk, but seemed to have trouble finishing what he wanted to say.

“Would it help if I said I won’t get upset?” Iruka offered, “I’m mostly interested in understanding why.”

Kakashi chuckled, a sound that made Iruka smile, “You are the most inspiration I’ve ever had to write.”

“Me?” Iruka felt his cheeks flush up.

“Yeah,” Kakashi’s voice soft with reverence. “I’ve started half a dozen stories and they all sit here unfinished, but the day you spilled that coffee, my fingers just started typing and didn’t stop until I wrote that whole story.”

It was Iruka’s turn to go silent.

“It was also my chance to change our first meeting,” Kakashi gave a tentative smile, he looked scared as if Iruka would run away if he said too much, “I was too nervous to say anything that first time, but in the book I could write it all.”

“This is what you wanted to say?” Iruka asked tapping on the book. He’d read the book a few times over by now, and that first meeting between Ruika and her love interest was a total meet cute. If it hadn’t been so real to Iruka, he would have swooned at the idea of meeting someone in such a way.

“Most of it,” Kakashi admitted.

“How about we start this all over?” Iruka offered hoping to turn this awkward meeting into something a little more novel worthy.

Kakashi nodded in agreement before fixing his turtleneck and lowering the top half of his computer to give Iruka his whole attention.

“Hi, my name’s Iruka. I think you’re a fantastic writer.” Iruka held out his hand for Kakashi to shake.

“Hi Iruka, I’m Kakashi. I think you’re cute, and I’d like to get you a drink.”

Iruka laughed, “Thank you, I’d like that.”


End file.
